Teen sensation Justin Engel sets new record in Stuttgart: "It motivates me to do more!"

STUTTGART, Germany—Since last fall, Justin Engel has been a feel-good story for German tennis. After securing his third ATP-level victory at the BOSS Open in Stuttgart on Tuesday, he followed that up on Thursday with his first win against a Top 50 player. In less than an hour and a half, he defeated Alex Michelsen, who is three years his senior, 6-4, 6-4.

Not only did Engel not allow the American a single break point, he also made "almost no mistakes," as he himself analyzed in his on-court interview. "I'm really proud of my performance," he added.

Even before his first match in Stuttgart, which he won in three sets against James Duckworth, the 17-year-old spoke eloquently about his preparations for playing on grass—after all, the BOSS OPEN was his first time ever playing on the surface.

"I often train with Philipp Kohlschreiber on taking shorter swings, standing deeper and keeping up the pace," he said about working with his coach.

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It seemed to click quickly for Engel. After all, he had the perfect weapons for the game on grass: "My serve and my flat backhand," he said, identifying his strengths. He was more than right, as he showed against Michelsen.

The second-round victory over the American also meant that Engel advanced to the quarterfinals—a historic milestone. At 17 years and eight months, he became the youngest quarterfinalist in the history of the tournament in Stuttgart.

He also joined a list of famous names, as he is now the youngest quarter-finalist on grass since Boris Becker's victory at Wimbledon in 1985. He also ranks second behind Rafael Nadal in the list of the youngest players to have won an ATP or Grand Slam match on all three surfaces since the ATP Tour began in 1990.

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The youngest players to win a match on all three surfaces

• Rafael Nadal 17 years 2 months; 2002 Mallorca (clay), 2003 Wimbledon (grass), 2003 US Open (hard court)
• Justin Engel 17 years 8 months; 2024 Almaty (hard court), 2025 Hamburg (clay), 2025 Stuttgart (grass)
• Alexander Zverev 18 years 1 month; 2014 Hamburg (clay), 2015 ATP Masters 1000 Miami (hard court), 2015 Stuttgart (grass)
• Lleyton Hewitt 18 years 1 month; 1998 Adelaide (hard court), 1998 Newport (grass), 1999 Orlando (clay)
• Carlos Alcaraz 18 years 1 month; 2020 Rio de Janeiro (clay), 2021 Melbourne-1 (hard court), 2021 Wimbledon (grass)

However, he does not want to think about his next opponent, Felix Auger-Aliassime, just yet. He knows that it will be a big challenge. Nevertheless, he is leaving the preparations to his coach. "He will watch the match and then tell me what to do."

That's exactly what helped him to combat his nerves against Michelsen.

"I concentrated so hard on what Kohli told me that at some point I was able to block out the fact that I was even playing a match!" he admitted to Tennis Channel DE.

He was still aware of the crowd and the fans, though, describing them as ‘great support’ during his match.

He was even unaware of the Stuttgart history he was making until after he came off court. But he says what matters most to him is "having fun on the court, because that's my life after all. I've never paid attention to statistics and records. But I definitely notice that the hard work is paying off. When you're compared to big names, it's obviously a great feeling and motivates me to do more!"